Clarisse & Silena
by PJOHoOHG
Summary: How they became friends. (It's pretty much the same as in the books, but the books were vague, so I'm writing a back story for it.)
1. How We Met

**Chapter 1: How We Met**

**Clarisse's POV**

It was raining outside, but Chiron had dragged me out to Half-Blood Hill so we could meet a new camper.

"She's around your age, so maybe she'll feel more comfortable with you around than an old centaur like me." He'd said.

I doubted it. Even as a nine year-old, I was mean. Then a car pulled up at the bottom of the hill. A girl who really did look my age climbed out. She dragged a big pink suit case out, and a pink makeup container. I'd seen the other Aphrodite girls carrying those before.

"You brought a child of Ares to meet a child of Aphrodite? You know I hate people, right? And I especially hate girly people." I scowled.

"Come on, she at least has smaller suit cases than the other Aphrodite girls. Drew brought ten suit cases, remember?" Chiron reasoned.

Just her name made me want to hit something. She was worse than most of the Aphrodite girls, and that's saying something. The girl tried to drag her suit case up the hill, but it was too heavy, and whoever had driven her already left.

"Go help her." Chiron ordered.

"Why don't you do it? You should have more strength than me, and you can give her a ride on a magic pony." I rolled my eyes.

Chiron prodded me forward until I started walking of my own free will. I grabbed the suit case, which just left her with the makeup box.

She smiled at me. "Thanks. I'm Silena."

"Clarisse." I lugged her suit case up the hill. "What's in this thing?"

"Bricks." She smirked. "Seriously though, it's just some personal stuff."

"Like perhaps a million outfits forced into one poor suit case?" I shoved it at Chiron.

He stared at me in an annoyed way.

"I agreed to show her around Camp, not be her bellhop." I rolled my eyes.

Chiron sighed and started carrying the suit case to the Aphrodite Cabin. I started walking towards the Big House and Silena followed me.

"It's not just clothes." She finally said as we stopped in front of the Big House.

"Extra makeup that didn't fit in your box?" I snorted.

"No, it's..." She cut herself off. "Nevermind. The point is, it's not more makeup, and it's not just clothes."

"That's a first." I scoffed. "Anyway, this is the Big House. It's where you'll find Chiron and Dionysus when Chiron's not overseeing activities, and Dionysus isn't sleeping."

"Why would he be sleeping?" She asked.

"Since he's not allowed to get drunk, he's either attempting to beat Chiron at pinochle or sleeping. I'm almost jealous." I rolled my eyes.

We had gone through the strawberry fields, stopped by the lake, and I'd pointed out the woods when we finally stopped at the lava wall. Silena's eyes filled with desire as I explained the lava wall.

"Why do you look so happy?" I stared at her in confusion.

"This sounds fun." She continued to stare at the lava wall.

It almost made me like her. Almost. We stopped by the arena and I pointed to the dummies as we stood under an arch to keep us dry.

"So we can use weapons against each other while we're in here?" She smiled at the dummies.

"Chiron prefers that we hurt the dummies. But as long as you don't maim or murder, you could fight people in here." I confirmed.

It scared me when I saw how her innocent blue eyes lit up with vicious excitement. And it's hard to scare me. I took her to the stables to look at the pegasi.

"We can ride these?! And not just on the ground, but in the air?!" She grinned.

"Yeah, that's the point." I sighed.

A couple of pegasi seemed to like her already. I finally took her to the cabins and pointed them all out to her.

"And the pink one's the Aphrodite Cabin. That's where you'll be staying." I pointed to it.

"It looks like somewhere Barbies go to die. And I can smell it from here." She pinched her nose.

She had a pink suit case and makeup box, and she's criticizing the pink Aphrodite cabin? It was getting harder to hate her.

"Come on, we have one more stop before I let you go." I stated.

We stopped in front of the public bathrooms.

"Do we have to use these?" Silena pinched her nose again.

It did smell pretty bad. "Unfortunately, we don't have enough money to build huge bathrooms in every cabin. I think Hera and Zeus have some in theirs, but we can't use those."

"I know the cabins are honorary, but what's the point of installing bathrooms that no one uses?" She sighed.

I couldn't do what I was supposed to do. I tried to tell myself I was too tired and cold, but I secretly knew why I really couldn't.

"Silena, can you do something for me?" I asked.

"What?" She looked confused.

"I'm supposed to dunk the heads of new campers in the toilet, but I'm too tired. So wil you walk in with me, stay a few minutes, and walk back out pretending to hate me? And if my siblings ask, I dunked your head in." I leaned against the wall to the bathrooms.

She looked confused for a second, then she walked inside with me. We stood inside for a few minutes. She started to shiver and hold herself. I realized that she had on a very thin fabric jacket. It wouldn't keep her warm. I didn't see any point in letting her die of hypothermia, so I took off my heavy duty jacket.

"Here. There's no point in me letting you get hypothermia. Chiron would probably kill me." I handed her the jacket.

"What about you?" She didn't put on the jacket.

"I'll wear yours. I'm used to severe weather anyway." I sighed.

She looked skeptical, but she finally switched me jackets. At least her jacket was blue instead of pink.

"And if your cabin mates ask why you're wearing an ugly army jacket, just say I stole yours and Chiron forced me to give you mine." I led her to her cabin.

"It's not that ugly, but okay." She shrugged.

I walked her up to her cabin as she pretended to glare at me. My siblings were laughing and pointing from inside my cabin.

"Looks like your plan worked. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Silena smiled.

"Hopefully not." I turned to leave.

If I would've looked behind me, I would've realized she was staring at me, and then she smiled as if she knew why I was really being mean.

"Why are you wearing her jacket?" Mark asked.

"No, the better question is, why's she wearing yours?" Sherman snorted.

"I stole her jacket, so Chiron made me give her mine." I lied.

They shrugged and went back to what they were doing. I sighed with relief.


	2. A Cold

**Chapter 2: A Cold**

**Clarisse's POV**

I woke up with a stuffy nose, and my cabin mates made sure to steer clear of me. They didn't want to get sick, especially when we had an important capture the flag game later in the week. The Athenians had won the last three games, and we wanted to win this time.

"Just steer clear of us with the exception of eating at our table. And try to get better before the week is over." Mark said.

"It's at least nice to know you're human." Sherman teased as we sat in the pavilion for breakfast.

Freaking Chiron telling me to give the new kid a freaking tour while it's freaking raining so now I have a freaking cold. And if it's not already obvious, I'm trying to avoid swearing. Chiron says it's not lady like, especially for children. It's like he wanted me to get sick. Hades, maybe he did. He's really started favoring the Athenians since that girl Annabeth showed up a few weeks ago with her Hermes Cabin friend. Luke? And Chiron wouldn't let me take ambrosia because he wants us to "build an immune system", and we should only use it when we're injured. Stupid Chiron. Silena suddenly walked in, saw me, and smiled. She walked over and sat next to me.

"What are you doing?" I turned to look at her.

"Sitting." She snorted. "You can have your jacket back now."

I took my jacket. "You know we're supposed to sit with our cabins, right?"

She looked at the Aphrodite Cabin nervously. They pointed at her and laughed.

"Do I have to?" She whispered.

"Well... you can't sit here. But Chiron would probably let you sit at his table with Dionysus and the satyrs." I said.

She nodded and walked over to Chiron. When I turned back to my normal sitting position, my siblings were staring at me.

"What?" I demanded.

"What made her think she could sit here?" Sherman stared towards Silena. "Didn't you dunk her in the toilet?"

"Maybe Clarisse is finally going soft." Mark snorted.

"I did dunk her in the toilet. Maybe she's just trying to make an alliance so I won't do anything else." I shrugged.

The shrugged and went back to eating. I looked back at Silena and did a double take. I hadn't noticed when she was sitting next to me, but she'd changed. Yesterday she was blue eyed with black hair. Today her eyes and hair were both brown. I walked over to her.

"Do you wear contacts?" I asked.

"No." She had her mouth full.

"And did you dye your hair?" I studied her.

"No..." She suddenly grabbed her hair so she could see it. "Oh. My hair was black yesterday and I had blue eyes, right?"

"Is this a trick question?" I stared at her.

"And my eyes are brown now?" She asked.

"Yes?" I was confused.

"Well, Aphrodite has the power to change her appearance into what she thinks is most beautiful. Some of her kids can do it too. My hair usually goes back and forth between it's natural black color and my dad's brown hair. My eyes are naturally blue, but they get brown like my dad's too. I thought it was just my genes from Aphrodite fighting for dominance with my dad's jeans at first, but my hair turned blonde one day and my eyes were green, so I figured it was more of a power." Silena explained.

"For an Aphrodite kid, you sure do sound like a nerd, what with that whole _genes fighting for dominance_ thing." I said.

"I'm not dumb, if that's what you mean." She shrugged.

Then she sneezed.

"Stuffy nose?" I asked.

"You too?" She wiped her nose.

Chiron was watching our exchange with an amused smile.

"Don't act so smiley. I'm pretty sure you got me sick on purpose just because you favor Annabeth." I walked out of the pavilion.

"Clarisse, you don't really think I got you sick on purpose, do you?" Chiron chuckled as he followed me.

"It wouldn't surprise me. You have all kinds of things up your sleeves that you pretend aren't there." I headed to my cabin.

"I just wanted you to give her a tour." Chiron sighed.

"A tour that could have waited until today, while it was sunny. And you could have done it yourself, like you did for Annabeth and Luke." I stomped into my cabin and made sure to lock the door.

"Clarisse, would you believe me if I said I thought you and Silena could be friends?" Chiron yelled through the door.

"And why would I want to be her friend?" I got under my blankets.

"Because Ares and Aphrodite get along, so why not their children? Besides, you could use a friend." Chiron snorted.

"I have friends. There's my siblings, and there's my allies." I laid back on my bunk. "Besides, Ares and Aphrodite only play nice because they sleep together."

"But none of your female siblings talk to you about anything aside from strategy. Don't you think you could use a friend who you could talk to about everything?" Chiron sighed.

"That's what my mother's for. But she's in Phoenix." I buried myself in my blankets so I could try to sleep my cold away.

"Honestly." Chiron muttered as he clopped away.

I was just about ready to sleep when there was a knock on the door. I groaned and got up to answer it.

"Hi." Silena said.

"What?" I sighed. "Do you want your jacket back?"

I picked it up and handed it to her.

"That wasn't why I was here. I was here to say thanks for letting me borrow your jacket and giving me a tour." She smiled.

"I was required to. And Chiron was trying to get me sick." And he wanted you to be my friend.

"Whatever." She shrugged.

She just stood there, as if she didn't want to leave.

"Did you need sonething else?" I sighed.

"No. I just... I don't want to go back to my cabin." She admitted.

"What, is the smell of dead Barbies too much?" I snorted.

"No, I've gotten over the smell. I just don't think they like me." She looked at her feet.

"And I do?" I stifled a laugh.

"According to what everyone says, you're a bully. But you at least offered me your jacket. A bunch of the girls made fun of your jacket while I was wearing it, and it reminded me of those stupid teenage movies where the only nice people get made fun of by fake nice people. You're at least openly mean, but they try to pretend they're nice. Some girl named Drew stole the necklace my dad gave me for my birthday." She explained.

She looked like a sad puppy. And I could relate to getting upset about people stealing stuff my parents gave me. I sighed.

"Are all the girls back in your cabin right now? And why hasn't your cabin's counselor said anything?" I asked.

"She has, but they just kept going after she fell asleep. And why do you want to know where my siblings are?" She looked confused.

I grabbed her arm and started dragging her to the Aphrodite Cabin. I opened the door and a bunch of Aphrodite kids stared at me.

"What are you doing here?" Drew looked me over.

I saw Drew wearing a necklace that looked like a gold chain with a chocolate brown stone. "Is that the necklace?"

"Yeah." Silena looked really confused.

I walked over to Drew and ripped the necklace off her.

"Ow!" Drew rubbed her neck. "That's mine!"

"No, it's hers. I can't believe _you_ call _me_ a bully. Sure, I dunk people's heads in toilets and viciously fight them, but I don't steal things that are important to them and claim it's mine. Even _I_ gave her a jacket so she wouldn't die of hypothermia, you just gave her a horrible welcome. I thought Aphrodite was all about _love_?" I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away.

Some people smiled, others looked guilty. Drew said a few things that Chiron says girls our age shouldn't say. Silena followed me out.

"Thanks." She grabbed me and hugged me from behind.

I let her for a few seconds before pushing her away. "Look, I just don't think anyone deserves that cold of a welcome. That's why I stood up for you. But next time, do it yourself. It's easy, just do what I just did with confidence. Oh, and sneeze on Drew for me. Then we'll be even."

I continued to walk away, but I heard Drew scream something about snot and getting sick around thirty seconds later. I grinned. Maybe colds could be fun.


	3. Capture the Flag

**Chapter 3: Capture the Flag**

**Clarisse's POV**

Silena finally left me alone after I stood up for her. I'd seen her telling Drew off over the course of the week. I'd also seen her rip a few dummies to shreds, successfully ride a pegasus the first time she tried, and she had the fastest time on the lava wall. I decided to use this as a strategy.

"So who's on our team this week?" Sherman asked.

"I heard the Athenians already called Hermes, so no thieves." Mark said.

"The Athenians gave us first pick on teams this week. The only cabin they wouldn't let us have was Hermes. I picked Dionysus because we need a nature advantage in the woods, and Hephaestus for their weapons. I let the Athenians have Hermes and Apollo, because they wouldn't let go of Hermes, and we aren't on the best terms with Apollo. And I didn't want Demeter, so I let them have that too. I also picked Aphrodite." I explained.

"You _picked_ Aphrodite?" Mark looked confused.

"All they do is sit around and look pretty." Sherman said.

"I picked them because they have untapped potential. They can use charmspeak, make people feel heart break, and mildly change their appearance. Besides, they also have a secret weapon that we can use to our advantage." I grinned.

When we met up with our teams, Drew was rolling her eyes at Silena.

"When they start to like you, that's when you break their heart." Drew sighed.

"Why would I want to break someone's heart? Especially if I like them? This rite of passage sounds stupid." Silena rolled her eyes.

"The only hearts you're going to break tonight are the hearts of the other team." I said. "I know you guys can make people feel heartbreak."

Silena looked at me and smiled. "What's the plan?"

"My cabin will do a mix of offense and defense like they usually do, the Dionysus Cabin is going to set up snares made of vines, the Hephaestus Cabin will provide us with weapons and do what they usually do, and the Aphrodite Cabin will cause heartbreak, use charmspeak, and change their appearances. Except for you Silena. I have special instructions for you." I grinned evilly. "Be ready when the horn sounds."

"Good luck." Annabeth said as she passed by.

"Whatever." I shrugged.

She walked over to Luke and started talking to him excitedly.

"Good luck. I'd rather be on your team, but you know, Annabeth doesn't want Luke to be on the other team." Chris smiled.

"I'd wish you luck, but I actually want to win." I smirked.

He grinned and walked over to his team. My siblings were snickering.

"Shut up, he's a good thief, and I want to keep our alliance with him." I hit a few of them with my helmet.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Silena asked.

My siblings snorted.

"No, he's just a good thief." I blushed. "Besides, I'm only nine."

"So? Love comes in all shapes and sizes. And that includes nine year olds." Silena smiled.

"This is why I hate girly girls." I muttered as I walked over to Chiron.

"The game starts now!" Chiron blew the horn.

Both teams took off into the woods. Silena and I were all that was left.

"So, what are my special instructions?" She asked.

"Follow me." I said.

We walked through the woods, ocassionally hearing the clang of swords and the clash of shields as the teams fought.

"You have a really big spear." Silena stared at it.

"It was a gift, and I'll grow into it." I shrugged.

"Did you name it? I heard that some people name their weapons." Silena seemed curious.

"Maimer. It's called Maimer." I said.

"Is it aptly named?" She snorted.

"Sometimes." I admitted. "Here we are."

We were at the edge of the clearing where the other team had their flag. It was standing proud and gray, just like Athena supposedly does. There was a boy in the middle, guarding it by himself.

"I want you to walk over to the flag. They never expect the children of Aphrodite to steal the flag, so you'll get in close, I'll cause a distraction, and you'll use those running skills you had on the lava wall. Okay? You just have to run the flag across the stream." I directed.

"Okay, I guess." She shrugged.

She walked out to where the guard boy was standing.

"Hi." Silena sat down next to where he was standing.

"Hey." He ignored her.

I ran out into the clearing and acted like I was going to fight the guard boy. He prepared to defend himself and got out a weapon. I caught a flash of Silena running with the flag, but I primarily kept my focus on the guard boy. His sword clashed against my spear, but I was winning against him.

"It's across the river, what now?!" Silena shouted.

"Wha-?" The guard boy stared at her.

I took the distraction as an opportunity to hit him in the stomach with the end of my spear. His breathed wooshed out and he fell over.

"The game is over! The red team wins!" Chiron shouted.

Our team came out of the woods cheering and lifted Silena up. I smirked at how popular she was going to be now. That wasn't even part of my plan.

"Nice job. She grabbed the flag while you were the distraction." Chris said.

I smiled as he walked back to his team.

"Clarisse distracted the guard for me!" Silena pointed to me.

"Clarisse, Clarisse, Clarisse...!" They started shouting my name and picked me up so I was next to Silena.

"Remember, this makes us allies, not friends." I said.

"Whatever you say." She smirked.

Our team then carried us back to the cabins.

**(A/N: Reviews would be nice. Even *gasps* negative ones.)**


	4. The Birthday Present

**Chapter 4: The Birthday Present**

**Clarisse's POV**

It was my 10th birthday. I should've been excited, but I wasn't. None of my siblings ever celebrated my birthday, because they always forgot, and Chiron hadn't even said anything yet. And he was the one who always remembered. Plus, I couldn't even go see my mom or have her see me, because we didn't have enough money. I just pushed my breakfast around on my plate mindlessly.

"Hey Clarisse." Silena stopped by the Ares table.

"What do you want?" I sighed.

"Nothing. I was just saying hi." She looked confused. "Are you okay?"

I ignored her and walked to my cabin.

**Silena's POV**

She always had a witty come back, so the fact that she walked away without a word made me think something was wrong. I followed Clarisse and saw her sitting on the porch of her cabin. She pulled out what looked like a phone and started to call someone. Weren't phones bad for demigods to have?

"Hey, Mom? I know I shouldn't use my phone unless it's an emergency, but it seemed wrong not to talk to you on my birthday. I miss you. Thanks. I wish I could see you today. I know. I love you too, bye Mom." She hung up the phone.

It was her birthday? She looked sad and lonely. I had an idea.

**Clarisse's POV**

I was hoping that calling my mom would make me feel better. It just made me feel worse. I wouldn't normally admit it, but I missed my mom, and I especially liked seeing her on my birthdays. She was always extra nice and somewhat less sarcastic on my birthdays. I just wanted to go home. I sniffled. I tried to force myself not to cry, children of Ares don't cry. But I just cried even harder. Then there was a knock at the door. I wiped my eyes and opened the door.

"Hi." It was Silena.

"What?" My voice cracked a little.

"Here." She handed me a small box.

It had red wrapping paper, and it had a black bow. I opened it to find a knife. It looked gold, with a black handle and red jewels.

"Are these real?" I asked.

"Real gold blade, obsidian handle, and ruby diamonds. I figured you'd like the red and black, and I saw it in the very back of the armory. It was hidden, so I guess that's why no one's taken it yet." Silena smiled.

"But why...?" I was confused.

"I heard you say it was your birthday." She explained.

I actually broke down and started to cry.

"Are you okay?" Silena asked.

"You... you're the only person who remembered my birthday besides my mother." I stuttered out. "Please don't tell anyone about this."

"About you crying? Crying is normal, especially if you're spending your bithday alone." Silena said. "Don't worry about it."

I took the leg strap that came with the knife and strapped the knife to my leg. "Thanks..."

"Oh, I'm not done." She grinned.

She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the edge of Camp. Argus was there with the van.

"Where...?" I started.

"You'll see." Silena said.

We got into the van and Argus drove us into New York. We finally stopped at an airport.

"Thanks Argus." Silena smiled as she pulled me out of the van.

I kept trying to ask her what we were doing, but she wouldn't tell me.

"Where does your mom live?" Silena asked.

"Phoenix, Arizona. Why...?" I was cut off by Silena dragging me to a counter.

"Two tickets to Phoenix please." Silena pulled out some money.

The lady at the desk smiled and gave Silena what she asked for. Silena then proceeded to pull me to a waiting area.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Spending money on you. It took me forever to save up this much money, and I can't use it for clothes like I wanted to now, so don't complain." Silena sighed.

We eat there for another twenty minutes before our flight was called. Silena dragged me to the security checkpoint.

"Silena, the knife..." I tried to warn her,

"Don't worry about it." She whispered.

We were standing face to face with a security guard.

"You will not say anything about this knife, you'll just hold it for us so we don't get in trouble." Silena waved two fingers. "These are not the droids you are looking for."

"These are not the droids I'm looking for." The guard grabbed the knife.

"How did you do that? Can that really work?" I asked.

"I didn't have to go all Star Wars. That was just for fun. I was using charmspeak." She smirked.

"Oh." I felt stupid.

Silena and I got through the security checkpoint and grabbed the knife. Then we boarded the plane.

"No suit cases?" The flight attendant asked as we found our seats.

"We're heading home, so we didn't need to pack any clothes. And we left some of our clothes at our boarding school. Ugly outfits." Silena lied.

The flight attendant smiled and walked away.

"You're good at lying." I commented.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"I'm not sure if I meant that as a compliment." I said.

"I'll just take it as one." She shrugged.

We sat in silence as the plane took off.

"So, do you want to talk about anything? This plane won't land for a few hours." Silena turned to me.

"I think I'll just sit quietly and listen to music if that's okay with you." I put on some headphones and brought out an iPod.

She frowned as I turned it on. She'd sincerely wanted to talk to me. I leaned back and listened to the music. I just about fell asleep when I felt an earbud come out.

"She listens to t.A.T.u.?" Silena giggled.

My eyes opened wide. "Is anything private with you?"

"Not really." She shrugged. "So, you like t.A.T.u.?"

"I'm not gay, their songs are just catchy. And not all of them are about being in love, some of them are about friendship." I defended myself.

"I wasn't saying anything negative. I didn't figure you were gay, given the fact that a ten year old isn't likely to make a decision about their sexuality, and I actually think t.A.T.u. is a nice band. Their songs are catchy." Silena grinned.

"Shut up." I turned my head to face the aisle.

I saw something that horrified me. Aphrodite was sitting across from me with a smile, and Ares was next to her smirking.

"Mom?" Silena looked over at them.

"We've been here the whole time, and they just noticed?" Ares snorted.

"Hi Silena." Aphrodite smiled. "Clarisse."

"What are you two doing here?" I asked.

"We occasionally prefer to ride planes instead of teleporting, and we were going to visit your mother." Ares' smirk grew.

I shrunk down in my seat. Silena seemed to notice that this made me uncomfortable.

"Let's go to the bathroom." Silena started dragging me down the aisle with her.

"I'm not going into a bathroom with you." I tried to pull away.

"What about the day we met?" Silena countered.

"It was a bathroom that was made for multiple people, and I was supposed to be dunking your head in the toilet." I protested.

I could hear Ares and Aphrodite trying to hold back laughter as Silena dragged me into the bathroom.

"Sit." Silena pointed to the toilet.

"I don't need to go." I said.

"Good thing that's not why we're in here then." Silena said.

I sat down. "What?"

"Are you afraid of Ares?" She asked.

"No." I lied. "So what if I were?"

"You're scared of your own dad?" She questioned.

"He's the God of War and his symbolic color is blood red, not to mention the fact that he prefers sons." I said.

"Fair point. But he's your dad." She said.

"A scary one. You just don't get it." I started to walk out of the bathroom.

"I think I do. But you can't be scared of him your whole life." She grabbed my arm.

"Watch me." I pulled my arm back and walked back to my seat.

We landed twenty minutes later. Ares and Aphrodite seemed to be following us.

"You know, we're all going to the same place. You might as well ride with us." Aphrodite suggested.

Ares' motor cycle was outside and it changed to a convertible. We got in the car and he started driving us towards my mom's house. He pulled up into the driveway. I got out of the car and ran to the door. I knocked calmly. The door opened to my mom.

"Clarisse." She grinned.

I hugged her and she kissed my head.

"Ares?" She looked confused. "And Aphrodite?"

"I didn't think Clarisse would be able to come today, so I was going to stop by. I guess I'll see you whenever the oppurtunity pops up again." Ares was relatively calmer than usual.

"Okay then." Mom said.

Ares got a conflicted look on his face before giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"You never were good with feelings." Mom smirked.

"Bye Tiffany." Aphrodite said.

"Bye Aphrodite." Mom said.

Aphrodite hugged Silena before leaving. Ares got another conflicted look on his face.

"Happy birthday kid." He said before leaving.

"So, based on the way he worded his explanation, he wasn't the one who got you here. How did you get here?" Mom asked.

"I bought her a plane ticket. I'm her friend, Silena." Silena said.

"Well then thank you." Mom smiled. "Come in and I'll make cake."

I ran inside at the idea of her making cake. I decided to check on my bedroom, so I went upstairs. All my stuff was still in the right places.

"Your room reminds me a lot of you. You look tough most of the time, but you can act like the average girl too. Your room is exactly what I'd expect of a tough girl, except for that little pink chariot with a Barbie in it." Silena smirked.

I spun around and saw my old Barbie in a pink chariot. "Mom! Why is my Chariot Barbie on my bed?!"

"I was looking at it and forgot to put it back in the closet." She yelled.

Silena was trying to hide her grin.

"If you say a word about this, I'll kill you slowly." I threatened.

"As if I care that a little girl had a Barbie. But it is ironic when you consider that you call people Barbie as an insult." Silena snorted. "Anyway, your mom seems nice."

"She's normally way more sarcastic than this. She's just extra nice on my birthday. It's the only day I'm not mean to people." I shrugged.

"You just threatened to kill me slowly." Silena reminded me.

"I didn't say I'd do it today." I snorted. "And why are you doing this anyway?"

"Because no one should be alone or forgotten on their birthday. And I like you. I want us to be friends." She said.

"No." I stated.

"How about I make it like a business deal then? I won't tell anyone about Chariot Barbie or the fact that you cried if you be my friend." She suggested.

"Are you blackmailing me?" I asked.

"Yes." She smiled.

I was starting to like her. "How about we turn this into a negotiation? You don't tell anyone anything, and I'll let you refer to yourself as my friend, but I won't confirm or deny it when people ask. And I'll give you fair warning when someone in my cabin wants to do something that affects you."

She seemed to ponder this idea. "Close enough. Deal."

We shook hands.

"Girls, the cake is ready!" Mom shouted.

I ran downstairs and Silena followed me.

"That was quick." I commented.

"I was already making it. I was going to eat half and gsend you the other half." Mom smirked.

I immediately grabbed a plate and a fork. I shoved the cake into my mouth.

"Jeez Clarisse, I would've bought food if I'd known you were that hungry." Silena said.

"No, my mom's cake is just really good." I said with my mouth full.

Silena took a piece and started to eat it. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"I think this is the best cake I've ever had." Silena started to shovel it into her mouth.

"Thank you." Mom smiled. "So, how did you two become friends?"

"She blackmailed me." I stated.

"Is that really how you're going to introduce me?" Silena scoffed.

"It's true. Besides, my mom doesn't judge." I snorted.

"Blackmailed her?" My mom started to laugh.

"I've been trying to convince her to be my friend. The Chariot Barbie gave me a good excuse." Silena explained.

"As bad as this would normally sound, that's kind of cute. The only way Clarisse makes a friend is to get blackmailed. The only other friend I've seen her make is Chris Rodriguez. And that's only because she was six years old. Back then she could admit to having a Chariot Barbie. It was her first day of Camp, and I noticed her playing with Chris. I think they were playing tag." Mom giggled.

I turned red. "I'm going to go check on my bike."

"I thought you said bikes were lame." Silena said.

"Not the bicycle kind. The motorcycle kind." I walked outside.

My motorcycle still looked intact.

"You have a child sized motorcycle?" Silena's eyes widened.

"Does it really surprise you?" I snorted. "And anyway, I'md bring it to Camp, but it's not something you can take on a plane, and I can't afford to have it shipped."

"So, you and Chris have been friends for four years?" Silena smirked.

"And your point is?" I asked.

"He'd be the perfect boyfriend for you." Silena suggested.

"I told you a year ago, I don't like him that way." I groaned.

"A lot can change in a year." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Not in this case." I wiggled my eyebrows mockingly.

"Is that a treehouse?" Silena pointed to the tree above us.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

Silena sprang for the ladder that led inside. I followed behind her. Inside there were drawings and papers everywhere. I'd drawn on the walls and taped papers with things written on them.

"A unicorn?" Silena snorted. "And a pegasus? And a boar. And a guy who's been shaded red?"

"It's a picture of Ares, and I wasn't the best artist." I sighed.

She picked a paper off the wall and read it. "Is this like your diary?"

I snatched the paper and read it myself.

_Today Daddy came to visit. He was wearing biker clothes. He said happy birthday and gave me a spear. He said to say hi to Mommy. He was cool._

I'd drawn a vague picture of Ares. It was a stick figure with red and black scribbles all over it.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't go through my stuff." I said.

"Sorry." Silena looked apologetic.

"Clarisse! I want to give you your present!" Mom yelled from below us.

I dropped down and Silena climbed after me. Mom held out a box. I opened it to find a Kopis.

"That's cool." I waved it around.

"Wow." Silena stared at it.

"Thanks Mom." I hugged her.

"Don't mention it. But tell me, where did you get that knife?" Mom pointed to the blade strapped to my leg.

"A birthday gift from Silena. She's the only person besides you who remembered." I said.

Mom smiled. "Well, I'm going inside."

"You know, I now have a new goal." Silena said.

"What?" I asked.

"To get you to let me sleep in that treehouse." She stared up at it.

"Maybe when we're real friends." I snorted.

"Your wording of that makes it sound like we will be friends." She grinned.

I rolled my eyes and walked inside. We ended up watching a scary movie marathon. I'm the only one who didn't scream, but Mom at least kept her screaming to a minimum. I think some of those movies scarred Silena for life.

"I really didn't think through the fact that I didn't bring any clothes." Silena said.

"You can borrow some of mine. Hades, you can keep whichever ones you pick. I don't want them back after they've touched your naked body." I shuddered.

"You make it sound like I have some kind of disease." Silena rolled her eyes.

"You do. It's called being girly, and I don't want to catch it." I teased.

She smirked as she looked through my closet. She didn't take long to find what she wanted, and she went into the bathroom to change. When she came out, she was wearing a light blue shirt and a pair of red shorts.

"You really do kniw how to make nice outfits out of crap, don't you?" I snickered.

"I think your clothes look nice. Most of them might not be for me, but they all look nice on you." Silena shrugged.

"Even though I'd normally let the guest sleep on the bed, I'm sleeping on the bed. It has sentimental value to me." I started making a bed for Silena on the floor.

"That's okay, I get it." She helped me finish making it and laid down on it.

I laid down on my bed and felt waves of familiarity wash over me. This was my childhood bed. This was my bed.

"I still want to sleep in your treehouse." Silena whispered.

"You'll just have to settle for my bedroom floor for now." I muttered.

"For now." Silena yawned in agreement.

I fell asleep not long afterward.

**Silena's POV**

I heard Clarisse's breathing change to a sleeping pattern. I liked her because she was nice to me, and because she secretly wanted to be my friend. Why else would she let me boss her around? Especially on her birthday? The floor was cold and uncomfortable, so I climbed into Clarisse's bed. She moved a little, as if she were letting me have room. But I knew she was asleep.

"Good night Clarisse." I whispered before falling asleep.


	5. Back to Camp

**Chapter 5: Back to Camp**

**Clarisse's POV**

I woke up feeling more warmth than my blanket normally provides. I opened my eyes to see Silena with her arms wrapped around me in her sleep. My arms were wrapped around her too. Something flashed just before I untangled myself from Silena. My mom was holding a camera.

"It was cute. I won't show anyone, I just want something to remind me of how cute you can be." Mom smirked.

"You're evil." I said.

"Why did you think Ares liked me?" Mom snorted as she left the room.

I decided to wake Silena up by pushing her off the bed.

"Ow." She groaned.

"Why were you sleeping on my bed?" I asked.

"The floor was cold and painful." She sighed.

"So am I." I said.

"Actually, you're kind of soft and warm. Physically. Emotionally, you are kind of cold and painful." Silena shrugged.

"Then why do you want to be my friend?" I rolled my eyes.

"Because you're relatively nicer than everyone else at Camp." Silena shrugged.

"What about Annabeth?" I asked.

"She's at least not mean, but she doesn't seem interested in friendship. She seems like all she wants is to be alone, and the only exception to that is Luke." Silena explained. "I like her, but it's hard to figure her out. Even you're easy for me to figure out."

"And what have you _figured out_?" I sighed.

"That even though you act tough, you're secretly a girl with daddy issues, and all you want is to have him accept you in a positive light. And you also act tough because you think your siblings will take advantage of any weakness you show. And you only hate girly people because you're still trying to get rid of your girliness, so you don't think they should be girly either. You also secretly crave friendship, but you've become too stubborn to admit it." Silena summed me up.

"Saying things like that is what makes me hate you. It makes me feel weak and stupid." I said.

"And I've made a breakthrough to the point that you just willingly told me about your feelings." Silena smiled.

"Why don't you just act like a therapist for someone else and leave me alone? I'm sure that if you put as much effort into Annabeth as you're putting into me, you'd have a major breakthrough with her too." I slammed my bedroom door as I went downstairs.

Silena came down five minutes later with puffy red eyes. She rubbed the wetness out of them.

"I'm sorry, okay. My cabin doesn't really like me, and everyone else thinks I'm exactly like them, so they hardly talk to me. You and Annabeth are the only people who talk to me without thinking I'm like my cabin. But Annabeth doesn't want me to be her friend, and you at least talk to me without taunting me. You just tease me." Silena sighed.

I groaned. I didn't like the idea of her crying for some reason, and it only got worse when she explained why.

"Look, I don't particularly think of you as a friend. I just have a vague amount of respect for you because you're not a stereotype like the rest of your cabin. And if you want them to like you, do sonething about it. Or ignore it. You're a nice person, and I'm sure they'd start to like you if you tried hard enough. And don't act all fake to get them to like you. That always backfires. And if you like Annabeth, just try to be nice to her until she calls you her friend. Thank you for the knife, and our deal about being your friend is still on, but stop doing things that cross the line. Like sleeping in my bed with me." I advised.

She smiled and gave me a hug. I let her hug me just so she wouldn't get upset.

"And you two can have copies of this." Mom handed us copies of the picture of us asleep on my bed.

"If you weren't my mother, I'd kill you." I said.

"Good thing I have maternal immunity then." She smirked.

"I see what you mean about the sarcasm." Silena commented.

"You have no idea." I snorted.

We got ready and left for the airport.

"I love you Clarisse. Bye." Mom smiled.

"I love you too, bye Mom." I said.

Silena and I got out of my Mom's car and headed into the airport. Silena did her charmspeak thing again on the security guard and we got on the plane.

"What do you want to talk about?" I sighed. "In exchange for all the birthday stuff, I guess I could listen to you."

Silena smiled and spent the entire plane ride telling me about herself. I had to admit, it was pretty entertaining. I smiled and laughed at a few things.

"My new life goal is to get you to admit we're friends." Silena said as we got into the Gray Sisters' taxi.

"Keep dreaming." I snorted.

When we got back to Camp, there were people panicking and it looked like a search party was being formed.

"I can't believe you just drove them out of Camp and didn't ask where they were going!" Chiron exclaimed.

Argus looked guilty.

"Come on Chiron, Silena could've used charmspeak on him. At least he admitted that he helped them leave." Chris reasoned. "Besides, Clarisse wouldn't just wander off on a whim."

"Come on Annabeth, we'll go search the woods." Luke said.

Annabeth smiled excitedly.

"There will be no need for that." I walked down the hill to where Chiron was standing.

"Clarisse! Silena! Thank the Gods. Where have you two been?" Chiron sighed with relief.

"Phoenix, Arizona." Silena shrugged.

"What?" Chiron looked confused.

I sighed in annoyance. "Yesterday was my birthday, and everyone except Silena and my mother forgot, so Silena helped me get to Phoenix in exchange for letting her come."

Chiron paled as if he'd just remembered it was my birthday yesterday.

"I didn't forget, but I didn't catch you before you left." Chris handed me a box.

I opened it to find a figurine of me in my armor. "How...?"

"I made it during Crafts. Beckendorf helped a little." Chris smiled.

Beckendorf stood next to Chris. Silena blushed when she noticed him.

"You can't just leave without telling anyone. We were worried sick." Chiron scolded.

"I didn't particularly like the idea of staying somewhere where no one remembers my birthday. And it seems funny that you can't remember my birthday, but you can sure remember to worry about my whereabouts. Besides, Ares and Aphrodite didn't seem to mind when we saw them on the plane yesterday. Even Ares, the meanest God on Oluympus, remembered to say happy birthday before he left." I stomped off to my cabin.

A few of my cabin mates entered a few minutes later.

"Sorry we forgot your birthday." Mark said.

"But to be fair, you don't really remind us a few weeks beforehand." Sherman shrugged.

"Do I really seem like the type to excitedly remind people of my birthday? I just wanted someone to remember." I sighed.

"Sorry I didn't get to you before you left. I just wanted to make sure the figurine was done before I gave it to you." Chris popped his head in.

"It's okay, I wouldn't have been mad at you anyway." I looked the figurine over.

Chris smiled as he left. My siblings laughed.

"Shutp up, you know he's my friend." I rolled my eyes.

"Hopefully you'll admit that I am too." Silena looked through the door.

"Don't count on it." I said.

She smiled as she left.

**Silena's POV**

I walked back to my cabin.

"What are you wearing?" Drew scrunched up her nose.

"Your grandma's underwear." I mocked her.

"What?" Drew looked confused.

"Well, the_ your mom_ jokes don't work when we share a mom." I explained.

"Since when did you grow a backbone?" Drew snorted.

"Since I got a confidence boost from a friend. Now if you have any more stupid questions, consult the Athenians. Oh, but I guess all your questions are stupid, so I guess you'll have to live with the Athenians. They kniw all kinds of trivia that can answer your stupid questions." I said.

Everyone laughed or snorted.

"This coming from you?" Drew scoffed.

"Didn't we just discuss consulting the Athenians on stupid questions, Drew?" I asked.

Drew glared at me and stomped out of the cabin.

"Seriously though, where did you get your clothes?" Lacy asked.

"Clarisse let me borrow them." I shrugged.

"She must really like you if she was that nice to you." Lacy blinked as she went back to her bunk.

"I know." I grinned.

**(A/N: Can I please get more reviews? I'm going to have homework constantly, but reviews would inspire me to keep up with these at least until I've finished my stories.)**


	6. Valentine's Day

**Chapter 6: Valentine's Day**

**Clarisse's POV**

After my birthday, I'd decided to figure out when Silena's birthday was so I wouldn't owe her anymore. You'll never guess when her birthday was. That's right, Valentine's Day. Since her birthday was actually before mine, I decided to do something for her eleventh birthday. I'd gotten her a Valentine's Day card and a t.A.T.u. album. I didn't know her well enough to get anything else. I walked to the Aphrodite Cabin, which was way more girly and pink than usual. And there were hearts everywhere. I knocked on the door.

"Is there any holiday you don't ruin?" Drew answered the door.

"I need to see Silena." I rolled my eyes.

"Well in that case, SILENA!" Drew left the door open as she walked back inside.

Silena looked like she was on the edge of depression. Then she smiled when she saw me.

"Hi." She grinned.

"Happy birthday and Valentine's Day." I handed her the card and the album.

"This is the only album I don't have from them. And I love the card. I'll be your valentine." Silena seemed excited.

"Wait, what?" I grabbed the card.

It said, _Will you be my valentine?_

"I could've sworn it said something else." I said.

"Oh well." Silena shrugged.

She looked into her cabin and frowned.

"I thought you were handling them?" I sighed.

"I am. But it's pretty depressing to bottle your hatred and sadness." She shrugged.

I groaned loudly. "Where does your dad live?"

"In Manhattan. Why?" Silena questioned.

"Come with me." I dragged her to where Argus was.

He was shaking his head no.

"Come on, Argus. We're just going into Manhattan, and we'll be back before curfew this time." I insisted.

"Clarisse, you don't have to do this. My dad's picking me up in a couple of hours. But I'd still be okay with you coming." Silena smiled.

I sighed and dragged her to the Hephaestus Cabin.

"Why are we here?" Silena asked.

"You are going to ask Beckendorf out on a date. And you're going to do it now." I ordered.

"I-I..." Silena was tongue tied.

"You constantly stare at him and get distracted when he's around. You're a daughter of Aphrodite for Gods' sakes! Just ask him out already!" I exclaimed.

"Ask Chris out!" Silena countered.

"Focus!" I pushed her into the cabin.

I watched as a few of the Hephaestus kids gained a sense of humor and snorted. Silena composed herself and walked up to Beckendorf.

"Hi Charlie." She said.

"Hi Silena." He looked up and smiled.

I could tell he liked her by the way he let her call him Charlie, and because he was ignoring his work to talk to her.

"I was hoping to ask you a question." She sounded nervous.

Everyone was secretly glancing over at them and smiling as if they expected this.

"Shoot." Beckendorf said.

"Do you... want to go to my birthday party?" She at least made progress.

"Sure. When?" He smiled.

"In a couple of hours. My dad's picking me up." Silena was completely red at this point.

"Okay. I'll meet you at Half-Blood Hill around then." Beckendorf agreed.

"Okay. Bye." Silena turned and walked out the door so fast she was practically running.

I could hear people laughing from inside the cabin. "You at least made progress."

"I'm horrible at being a daughter of Aphrodite." Silena looked solemn.

"No, you're just not cocky and overconfident. At least when it comes to guys." I shrugged.

Silena and I sat on Half-Blood Hill, playing Mythomagic when Silena's dad's car pulled up. It was the same car I'd seen when Silena first came to Camp.

"Where's Charlie?" Silena looked upset.

"Hey Silena! I'm not late, am I?" Beckendorf ran up the hill.

"Just in time actually." Silena grinned.

We got in the car and I got a good look at Silena's dad for the first time. He looked exactly like Silena did on her second day of Camp, light brown hair and chocolate brown eyes.

"Hi Silena. Happy birthday." He reached over and hugged her.

"Hi Dad. Meet Clarisse and Charlie." Silena gestured to us.

"So these are the friends you always talk about." Her dad smiled.

Silena blushed. "Yeah."

We drove in silence until we reached a driveway. The house was a nice shade of blue, and there was an old pink bicycle sitting by the front door.

"Yours?" I teased.

"Shut up." Silena rolled her eyes.

We walked inside and I could immediately tell that a little girl had lived there. There were coloring books on one end of the couch, there were drawings allover the fridge, and there was a pink blanket right next to the coloring books.

"You haven't moved anything since the last time I was here?" Silena asked.

"Never got around to it." Her dad shrugged.

We all sat down on the couch.

"I'm going to go get the cake." Silena's dad headed for the kitchen.

"Be prepared for extreme chocolate." Silena warned us.

"Why?" Beckendorf and I asked.

"He owns a chocolate shop. I'm just lucky I'm not fat because of how much chocolate he gives me." Silena said.

Her dad brought out a death-by-chocolate cake.

"Good thing I'm not opposed to chocolate." I snorted.

"You would be if you lived with the owner of a chocolate factory." Silena muttered.

"I hope you guys like chocolate." Her dad smiled.

"I do." Beckendorf leaned forward.

We all ended up eating cake until we felt like we'd throw up if we ate anymore. Beckendorf's hand landed on Silena's as he sat back on the couch. She grinned excitedly as his thumb stroked her hand. I couldn't believe it. The _daughter of Aphrodite_ couldn't figure out he was doing it on purpose, but _I_ could. Aside from it being obvious, he also looked down at his hand nervously every couple of seconds. I guess they weren't kidding when they said love was blinding.

"Hey Silena, where did you get that bracelet?" I asked.

She was wearing a bracelet with a scythe charm on it. "Oh, that was a birthday gift from Luke."

"Speaking of which, happy birthday." Her dad handed her a present.

Silena opened it to find a box of white chocolate. "Thanks Dad, I love it. I was starting to get sick of regular chocolate."

"And my birthday present to you is waiting outside." Beckendorf looked nervous.

Silena followed him outside and I watched through the window. He said something and she hugged him excitedly. She also gave him a kiss on the cheek. Based on the way she reacted and what I read on his lips, I guessed he was asking her out.

"Best birthday present ever." Silena mouthed as she came back inside.

I smiled bitterly. I was happy for her, but it made me jealous. I wanted someone to care about me that way too. I knew I wouldn't be getting anything this Valentine's Day except for the card Silena was handing me. "Thanks. I like the card."

The card she gave me had skulls on it, and it made a joke about the skeleton wanting a heart. We headed back to Camp in her dad's car. When we got there, Chris was sitting by Thalia's pine tree.

"What are you doing up here?" I asked as I sat next to him.

"Argus said you guys went into Manhattan, and I was waiting for you to get back so I could give you something." He said.

"But for all you knew, we could've been staying overnight." I was confused.

"I would've gone to bed if you guys had been gone too long." He smiled.

"So what did you want to give me?" I asked.

"This." He handed me a card.

Inside the card, it said, _Will you be my Valentine Clarisse?_

"Yes." I answered.

Chris scooted closer and kissed me. I didn't protest, because I didn't want to protest.

"Happy Valentine's Day Clarisse." He said.

"Happy Valentine's Day Chris." I handed him a crumpled up card.

I figured I'd be too scared to give him the card, so I crumpled it up and left it in my pocket. It read, _Be my Valentine? _Chris read the card and smiled. He kissed me again before running off to his cabin. I just sat there thinking for a while before finally heading back to my cabin. No one could understand why I was so quiet for once.


	7. Leadership

**Chapter 7: Leadership**

**Clarisse's POV**

I woke up and headed for the pavilion. When I got there, Silena and Drew were having a huge argument.

"Now that she's leaving for college, I'm going to be the cabin's counselor!" Drew exclaimed.

"You don't deserve to be the cabin counselor!" Silena yelled back.

"And who does? _You_?" Drew snickered.

"Why not? I'd be better at it than you!" Silena said.

"Is that a challenge?" Drew snorted.

"Yeah, actually it is. Or are you too scared that I'll win?" Silena challenged.

"Not at all." Drew feigned confidence.

"Alright, anyone who wants to be cabin counselor after I leave for college can meet in the arena. You can duel over the right to be the counselor. Whoever wins is the new counselor." Aphrodite's current cabin counselor said.

Drew walked out of the pavilion with her head held high. Silena breathed a sigh of relief as she walked over to me.

"Bold move." I smirked.

"Shut up." She snorted.

"No, really. You're finally taking my advice about being assertive." I said sincerely.

"Do you think I could win?" She looked like a lost puppy who didn't know what to do.

"Yes. The first time I ever showed you the arena your eyes lit up with mischief, and you've been practicing your fighting skills everyday. Drew hardly ever does anything. I've only ever seen her defeat someone in battle once, and she was using her charmspeak to get them to back off of her during Capture the Flag." I gave her my vote of confidence.

"My eyes lit up with mischief?" She grinned.

"Yes they did. And if you're seriously worried about losing against Drew, I'll train with you in the arena. No one has class there for a few hours, so it'll be free for us to use." I shrugged.

"Really?" Her eyes lit up with happiness.

"Yes." I rolled my eyes.

She smiled widely and started dragging me to the arena.

"Not yet! I need to get my armor and weapons first!" I protested. "I don't want you getting all mischievous and killing me."

"Right, sorry. I need to get my stuff too." She ran off to her cabin.

She met me in the arena ten minutes later.

"You know, we don't have to wear our armor right now. I just figured you'd want it in case we advanced into rougher territory." I smiled.

"Okay." She took off her armor.

After she was done taking it off, she stood in front of me, sword poised to attack.

"Let's go." I got into a defensive stance with my sword.

She waited for me to attack, realized I was playing defense, and attempted to strike me. I dodged pretty easily.

"Damn it." She muttered.

"It was actually a good strike, but I was prepared for it." I said.

"This would be easier if you were playing offense." She sighed.

"How?" I snorted.

"I've watched you fight, so I think I can dodge you if you attack first." She said. "You're pretty good in the arena."

"Fine, I'll attack first." I shrugged.

I kept standing as if I were on defense, and she seemed confused. Then I suddenly attacked, catching her off guard. She barely dodged a strike at her head.

"I thought you said you could dodge me." I smirked.

"I thought you were still playing defense because you didn't change your stance." She blushed.

"When you're in a real fight, you can't always base things off the enemy's stance. Sometimes you have to look into their eyes to know what their true intentions are." I said.

She smiled as if she'd just discovered something. "Attack me again."

I got into the stance I wanted before striking at Silena's feet. She put her sword into a blocking position before my blade got too close.

"Not bad." I complimented.

We kept going like that until we were in a full blown fight. We weren't fighting in a demonstrative manner anymore, we were competing to see who'd win. I was starting to get tired, but I kept going. She was visibly tired, but she was moving as quickly as she had at the beginning of the fight. Finally, she knocked the sword out of my hand and hit me in the chest with the butt of her blade. I fell over as the air audibly left my lungs with an _"oof!"_

"Okay, if you can win against me, you can definitely beat Drew." I said as I tried to suck air back into my lungs.

She grinned with victory before she finally realized I was out of breath and helped me up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to knock the air out of your lungs."

"It's okay, I've had worse things happen." I groaned.

"Like what?" She asked.

"An older sister of mine fought me during my initiation. She was good, I was better." I explained.

A dark look crossed Silena's face. "Clarisse, did you get your head dunked in the toilet during your initiation?"

"No. Remember the older sister I mentioned? The Ares cabin doesn't do fights for initiation. When she and I fought, it was because I refused to let my head get dunked. I dunked her instead." I shrugged.

"Your stories never cease to amaze me." She smiled. "How old was she compared to you?"

"Only a few years older. She refuses to talk to me for any reason other than cabin related duties and Capture the Flag." I smirked. "I wounded her pride."

Silena shook her head as she smiled and we left the arena.

"Go get ready for your fight. Drew will probably be in the arena by noon." I suggested.

Silena smiled as she headed to her cabin. I had a pretty nice smile myself when I headed to my cabin. I noticed some people pointing at me and giggling. I was too focused on getting back to my cabin to stop and beat answers out of them. But I got about the same reaction when I got into my cabin.

"Seriously, what's with all the pointing and giggling?" I sighed.

"You don't know?" Mark looked ready to burst with laughter.

"Maybe she got hit so hard she has amnesia." Sherman smirked.

"Talk. Now." I grabbed both of their shirts.

"Missy finally got her revenge." Sherman snickered.

Missy was the older sister I'd beaten up. Mark pulled out a video camera and played back the film. The video was of the last few moments of my sword fight with Silena, and it showed me being knocked over with air leaving my lungs. Even worse, it showed the part where I complimented her and let her help me up. It was an embarrassment to my pride.

"So, you've beaten all of us up at least once, but you got knocked on your ass by a child of Aphrodite?" Mark snorted.

I pondered a good lie to tell. "No, you idiots. I let her beat me so she'd feel confident about her fight with Drew."

Technically, I wasn't lying about trying to make her feel confident, but I _was_ lying about letting her win.

"Why would you do that? Have you gone soft?" Sherman laughed.

"Of course not. I want her to be Aphrodite's cabin counselor so I can manipulate her more easily than Drew." I lied. "Better to go with the devil you know."

The people in my cabin seemed to ponder this for a moment before looking guilty and apologetic.

"I won't punish you if you guys go tell people what I just told you and make sure they know Missy was lying." I said.

They all dutifully went to work. It was fun to be a counselor.

**Silena's POV**

As I was walking around Camp, I heard people talking about me.

"She knocked Clarisse on her ass." Katie from Demeter cabin snorted.

"No, she let Silena win. She wants Silena to be Aphrodite's cabin counselor so she can manipulate Silena more easily than Drew. Letting her win made her more confident about the fight." Sherman rolled his eyes.

Was what Sherman said true? I found Clarisse drawing in the sand by the lake with her finger.

"What are you drawing?" I asked.

"Battle plans. Athena's cabin isn't the only one who can make them." She erased the plans and started over.

"Did you really let me win our fight?" I questioned.

She stopped drawing the battle plans and looked up. "No, I just told my cabin that so Missy's tape of me getting knocked over wouldn't ruin my reputation."

"Honestly Clarisse, I don't know the difference is between truth and fiction with you. You say one thing to me, and then another to your cabin. You won't even admit to being my friend." I was angry, nearly on the verge of tears.

Clarisse got a hurt expression on her face. "I never lie to someone's face about their own battle skills. And I told you, I'll only call you a friend when I think we're becoming friends. But I guess I can't do that, because friends trust each other, and it doesn't sound like you trust me."

She walked off angrily. I felt bad, but I still wasn't sure if Sherman was telling the truth. I walked to the arena and put my armor on for the fight. Drew was already there, but she didn't look as smug as earlier.

"I heard you knocked Clarisse on her ass. She must not be as tough as I thought." Drew said.

Or maybe Clarisse is really good at faking fights. I sighed as I got ready to fight.

**Clarisse's POV**

I sat in the arena and watched Silena nervously get ready to fight.

"Ready?" Chiron was there to insure there was no rule breaking.

Silena and Drew nodded.

"Go!" Chiron called.

Silena seemed nervous, but she was doing okay in the fight. Then she looked at me in the stands, and she seemed to lose her confidence. Drew used it to her advantage and knocked Silena down the way Silena had knocked me down. But she didn't stop there. She tried to slash at Silena, and Silena only dodged by rolling away from the blade each time it came down. Silena tripped Drew, making Drew's blade skid away from them. Drew responded by hitting Silena in the face. Silena blocked the other hits by covering her face with her hands, but I couldn't keep watching this.

"Stop!" I yelled. "Chiron, stop her!"

Everyone stared at me like I was insane.

"_Y__ou_ want me to stop a fight?" Chiron looked shocked.

"I want you to stop Drew from maiming her. Maiming is against the rules, and everyone has to abide by the rules. If Drew doesn't have to follow the rules, then neither does anyone else." I was practically begging him. "Look, that's maiming if I've ever seen it."

Chiron looked over at Drew as she continued to try to hit Silena. "Stop! That's enough Drew!"

Drew was caught off guard, and Silena used the distraction to knock Drew off of her. I hopped over the low wall of the arena's stands and ran to Silena.

"What are you doing? Don't you have a reputation to protect?" Silena coughed.

"I don't care about my reputation, I'm not going to let Drew beat the life out of my only friend." I pulled Silena up.

Silena smiled. "I'm your friend?"

"You're my friend." I confirmed. "Now come sit with me on the bench so I can get you ready for round two."

We sat on the bench next to the arena's stands and I used a first aid kit on her. She winced every time I wiped the blood off of her eye. She was going to have a black eye.

"Your chest feel okay?" I asked.

"I can still feel the pressure of the hit, but I'm good." Silena sucked in air.

"Are you sure?" I gripped her shoulders.

"One hundred percent." She nodded.

"Then go." I helped her up and shoved her in the direction of the fight. "And knock her on her ass the same way you did to me."

Silena smiled and got back into the fight, getting in an offensive stance. My cabin, and just about everyone else, was staring at me like I'd finally cracked.

I smirked evilly. "Go Silena!"

"Go!" Chiron called.

Drew tried attacking Silena as viciously as before, but Silena was ready this time. Silena knocked Drew's sword out of her hand with almost no effort, then she knocked Drew to the ground the same way she'd done to me, and the same way Drew had done to her. The difference was, Drew couldn't keep going, and Silena knew it, so she spared Drew.

"Unlike you, I don't kick people when they're down. So the fight ends here." Silena panted.

"No, it doesn't end until one of us bleeds!" Drew winced.

"I did bleed. And you lost. Fight over." Silena smirked.

"You little..." Drew started.

"Shut up Drew." The current Aphrodite counselor said. "I wouldn't have made you counselor even if you won. You're more cold hearted and mean than the rest of us. And we can be pretty bad."

Drew looked angry. "But..."

"No. No one else wants to, and Drew lost, so Silena is the new cabin counselor starting the day I leave." The Aphrodite counselor said.

The nice people cheered, the mean people glared, and my cabin... just stared at me as if I were insane.

"And to the Ares cabin, the Aphrodite cabin is our permanent ally starting the day Silena becomes counselor. The only exception is if they end up on the other team. But even then, if you try to go too far with any fights against them, you'll be severely punished." I announced.

My cabin probably thought I had gone off the deep end. I walked out of the arena with Silena, not caring what they thought.

"We are the champions!" I sang horribly at the top of my lungs.

Silena was laughing really hard.

"It's so cute when you're nice." Chris smirked.

Then he walked towards his cabin. I turned to see Silena get the most evil grin ever. I had a bad feeling she was going to try playing matchmaker.

**(A/N: Sorry it's been a while, but I've been busy. And I've made the effort to write during class. Also, Clarisse and Silena are 12 in this chapter.)**


End file.
